catherine's
story
Creating Curative Reading has been my contribution and my curative path forward through the arc of my own life story. In 2014, long term health challenges took me out of the workforce and landed me at home not just for weeks or months but years as debilitating symptoms of neurologic distress and digestive upset taught me to care for myself while in a constant state of fight or flight. Ultimately this practice of finding ways to return my body to a state of peace in the midst of a challenging time led me to my curative path where I found many hidden cures in fictional stories.
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In 2015, I found The Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness at Spaulding Hospital, Boston where I received rehabilitation support for Lyme and neurologic inflammatory disease. Joining Spaulding’s Community Book Group in 2017 became one of my best medicines and the inspiration to create Curative Reading in 2019. It was from that traditional book group that the idea came to me to transform my experience into something that went beyond literary discussion to a deeper place with a curative purpose. When I created Curative Reading I knew I also wanted to shine a light on the health benefits of reading and creating connection for our brains as well as our bodies and overall health. I began to learn all that I could about neurobiology and the biotics of health in the context of my own experience as I returned to better health reading fictional story and creating healthy connections in multiple ways.
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I have been convening groups for over twenty-five years with a special interest in therapeutics, group dynamics, and community building. I have a B.A. in psychology and a background in hospitality and mind-body event planning. My formal training comes from Boston College, The University of Massachusetts, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and The Benson Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Mass General Hospital.
This is a time in my life when the pieces of my own life story, which at times have felt out of place and extremely uncomfortable, have come together in a new way. I wish to demonstrate the power of imagination to spark inspiration as a powerful antidote to discouragement and a new medicine for our future.
When we find inspiration we begin to see unwanted change and challenge in a whole new light that enables us to create a new reality of possibility instead of limitation. It is from this place where we begin to adapt to the changes upon us and grow forward again for the better.
